We don’t know much about the four-minute clip — who filmed it or who the people are. It opens with a group of friends on First Avenue at St. Mark's Place, a carefree bunch sporting a yo-yo, a boa, and a portable cassette player. They eventually wander along St. Mark’s Place past Second Avenue, where the slice of life comes to an end.
Saturday, April 26, 2025
Videos: 4 minutes on St. Mark's Place in the 1980s
The Kinolibrary Archive Film Collections uploaded a clip to YouTube this past week titled "1980s Summer in East Village, New York." (Thanks to the tipster for the link!)
8 comments:
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People were so much more FUN back then.
ReplyDeleteI watched hoping to see the EV i the 80s as opposed to some selfish selfcentered weekend warriors. Oh, well.
ReplyDeleteDitto! Much like today's young people, they are only interested in themselves and they have no interaction with the neighborhood or it's residents. Waste of film.
DeleteSomeone suggested this was a Nelson Sullivan production... I don't think so... plus, he was usually in the videos
ReplyDeleteI would have found these guys insufferably smug back then, exactly the same way I do now.
ReplyDeleteYeah, "insufferable" is a good word for it. Something about the yo-yo, boom box, snake combo... just reeks of trying a little too hard.
ReplyDeleteI was on those blocks then -still am. And I recognize posers like that trying SO hard to be "freaky". They lost me when I saw she didn't know how to use a yo yo - flipping it out of your hand backwards. Cool seeing a bit of the streets - especially the St.MarksTheater, but, overall, yawn.
ReplyDeleteSome good stuff in the background though: the dry cleaners, Gem Spa, etc.
ReplyDelete